Originally Posted by Drithius
Finishing up on Breaking Bad, about halfway through Season 5 now. My opinion remains largely unchanged: for having received such widespread praise, I had expected far better content. With a few exceptions here and there (and a stellar season 4 finale), I don't feel much enthusiasm for this series at all.

It was intriguing when the main character was battling cancer and a person could empathize with the loneliness and despair he was feeling to come to the decisions he made. But the latter seasons in which he evolves into some wanna-be Don Corleone really don't appeal to me at all. The changes in his personality from scene to scene feel more and more contrived.

I agree.

Breaking Bad started out really interesting with a strong premise - but it never really took off.

One issue with lists like these is that it is nearly impossible to address shows that start strong and very quickly go down the toilet (Twin Peaks, Veronica Mars, Heroes, etc) … and also those that might not have the greatest writing but were massively influential or important in other ways.

Originally Posted by txa1265
One issue with lists like these is that it is nearly impossible to address shows that start strong and very quickly go down the toilet (Twin Peaks, Veronica Mars, Heroes, etc) … and also those that might not have the greatest writing but were massively influential or important in other ways.

As well as the fact that quality writing is as subjective as anything else.

Quality writing is what works for you - and that's pretty much it

Personally, I'm very big on human nature - and I have this idea of how we work and how we don't work as human beings.

So, I will always appreciate writing that reflects that - which is possibly why I don't like Game of Thrones all that much (it IS entertaining, though) - and why I love The Wire.

Even so, there will be lots and lots of people claiming that the characters in Game of Thrones are entirely plausible - and that The Wire doesn't feel realistic.

That's not the writing.
I'm talking about the stuff you couldn't see anywhere else, for example fashionable beaver. That steals rags. Of course, it doesn't steal rags assuming it's the current fashion trend, but saying a word more about it would mean an unwanted spoiler. Watch the show then tell me that writing didn't deserve a spot on the list linked above.

I don't want to watch the show, it annoyed me to no end when it initially aired.

Writing doesn't matter if the rest of it is trash to me. Now, the pilot for Sorbo's Hercules w/ Anthony Quinn - that was memorable (and not in a Lucy Lawless piercing my ear drums kind of memorableness either).